gerrythree

Dunkirk is a cobbled together bunch of scenes highlighted by one big scene, the British troops evacuating from the beach dunes. The extras in that scene are real soldiers lent to the studio at apparently no production cost except to provide free inedible lunches. Actor John Mills plays a corporal who does nothing but look grim and walk in front of his six man squad. Many of the small boat scenes are filmed on a interior studio tank, scenes that looks totally phony. Of course, being a British war movie, there are some scenes showing officers behaving gallantly or displaying superior decisiveness and brainpower. Grainy stock footage of German dive bombers is used, all looking crap. The film must have had a very limited production budge, I did not see one jeep or truck on the evacuation beach. No bicycles either.

If you want to see an authentic depiction of the Dunkirk evacuation, with no CGI, watch "Weekend at Dunkirk," a 1964 French movie filmed in great color starring Jean Paul Belmondo and Catherine Spaak that was actually filmed at the Bray Dunes in Dunkirk. Five minutes of this 1964 French movie has more cynicism about war than all of the 1958 Dunkirk.

"Circle of danger" is a quality production all around. I watched the movie from the recent 2024 StudioCanal release of the movie on Blu-ray, where the cinematography glistens, especially the scenes of the salvage operation. Ray Milland's character heads to the United Kingdom after finally scoring a big salvage haul of tungsten from a cargo ship sunk off Tampa, Florida. With the $30,000 he makes from his quick sale to the boat captain of his salvage share, he travels from the lowlands of London to the Highlands of Scotland to discover how his brother died in a commando raid in occupied Europe WWII; his brother being the only casualty of the raid. This raid is is where I have a problem with the movie. The raid is never shown in flashback; other characters who were there describe what happened. But what really happened? The explanation at the end by the commander of the raid and another surviving witness (Marius Goring playing a former commando turned fey choreographer) seems contrived. The movie's screenplay was written by Philip MacDonald, who also wrote the novel "White Heather," the basis of the screenplay. That novel is MIA on the Internet, as far as my search went. In 1950 England, where the story takes place and when the film was made, WWII was a recent memory. Food rationing was still in force for meat and life was hard for many from the war's physical damage and damage to the British economy. For me, the movie's ending rings false. The ending of "Circle of Danger" smacks of self-censorship, to avoid showing stuff, even in a fictional incident, that possibly puts the British war effort in a bad light. Too bad the movie's budget apparently did not allow for filming that ill-fated commando raid, which could have better shown what happened.

Viewers watching "The Bounty Killers" in 1956 must have been amazed at this grim story of U. S. Marshall Frank Moxon, who uses his badge to kill with impunity fugitives he captures alive. To save the added cost of bringing them back alive. The Hollywood movie Production Code then in force would have prevented this "Cheyenne" episode from even appearing in movie theaters. Moxon knows the law and intimidates everyone he meets. Cheyenne finds himself in a tough situation as Moxon's newly hired deputy. When Warner Bros. Produced this "Cheyenne" episode, the studio also was in a tough situation, with television grabbing the studio's paying customers. Thanks to the success of the hour-long "Cheyenne" TV show, Warner Bros. Went bigtime into producing more hour-long TV western series (e.g. "Maverick," "Sugarfoot," "Bronco") for the then foundering ABC network. "The Bounty Killers" is a one of a kind TV Western; no rose colored glasses here.